annihilation

[ uh-nahy-uh-ley-shuhn ]
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noun
  1. an act or instance of annihilating, or of completely destroying or defeating someone or something: the brutal annihilation of millions of people.

  2. the state of being annihilated; total destruction; extinction: fear of nuclear annihilation.

  1. Physics.

    • Also called pair annihilation . the process in which a particle and antiparticle unite, annihilate each other, and produce one or more photons.: Compare positronium.

    • the conversion of rest mass into energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation.

Origin of annihilation

1
First recorded in 1630–40; from French or directly from Late Latin annihilātiōn- (stem of annihilātiō ); see origin at annihilate, -ion

Words Nearby annihilation

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British Dictionary definitions for annihilation

annihilation

/ (əˌnaɪəˈleɪʃən) /


noun
  1. total destruction

  2. the act of annihilating

  1. physics the destruction of a particle and its antiparticle when they collide. The annihilation of an electron with a positron generates two or, very rarely, three photons of annihilation radiation . The annihilation of a nucleon with its antiparticle generates several pions

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